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Quiet talkers

Heres one that I wanted to post but I was too busy to. This is actually kind of like a Dane Cook act which is really funny in more way than one.

Customers that talk loud are just kind of annoying, customers that dont talk loud enough are disasters. I dont like re-asking the same question just to get the same muffled responce. The reason I say "excuse me, sir?" is because I couldnt hear you. If you dont ask them to reiterate, you run the risk of getting the wrong thing and thats just another barrel of monkeys you dont want to open. God damn monkeys.

The problem with asking someone to repeat themselves is that they usually get mad at you for not hearing them. Im sorry if everyone around you is talking louder. But when they do say something again, they practially yell it at you and in such a way that it looks like they dont think you know english. I dont have any good recollection of an incident that happens, its just an annoyance.

moral: some people talk to loud, some too soft. You cant win... stop trying! J/k

I quit!

I actually stopped working about two weeks ago. They bought me this nice cake for my last day and the hostess only sat me with nice tables. My roomies showed up and gave me a nice tip. it was a good last day. Looking back on it, I would really like to pick up shifts. More for the people that work there that I miss than the job.

As far as this blog goes? im not sure. I might update with rants of things past but for the most part there isnt anything to report on. We'll see. If this is my last post, thanks for reading. Be tolerant, try to put yourself in other peoples shoes.

Moral: You arent the only person in the universe. Act that way. Dont make everyone else's life miserable because you think you are the only one that matters

Van

Van is a very nice russian guy that does a small school locally but really works full time at Peppers. He lives in the US mainly because he likes it here. Im not sure if Russia really is that bad but we have quite a few Russian people working at Peppers. Along with being foreign, Van has problems with the language. In 9 months, this guy has become very fluent in english. The problem, as most customers remind him of, is that his accent is very thick.

Since I have a background of another culture, I have little to no difficulty understanding him. I have overheard many customers making fun of him as soon as he leaves a table or make comments about not being able to understand a word hes saying. The phrase "Learn English!" has been known to have been said to him or others in the wait staff that are not native speakers. Those types of people make me angry. He, in his 22 years of life, has left his home country, learned english AND spanish, and knows more about American culture than most people that walk into our establishment. Learn to be a little tolerant.

Anyway, Van is very overworked. He works every shift except sundays. What he does with his time, I dont know. I feel bad for the kid. Hes fairly scronny and has a very distinct russian face. I suspect he didnt have many friends back home in russia. At least here, he is interesting instead of normal.

As far as Van and drama in the restaurant goes, he stays out of it. He will give the occasional russian explitive about a customer, but thats about it. I hope that if he plans on staying in america, that he finds a better job.

I quit

You heard me! I put in my two weeks. I got full time at my office job and I make almost 3 times as much as I made waiting tables. Lol. Somehow, It was hard to do. I worked there for over 3 years and the people I work with almost feels like family. Sure Im still going to go by now and then but it isnt the same.

As far as this blog goes, I might just post up old expiriences as I remember them or go over personalities of waiters/waitresses so you know what goes through their mind and why they act that way. Some restaurants are very dirty :)

Moral: 401k/benifits/salary > barely making bills a month and being at the mercy of customers

Late Stayers

Everyone has them. It happens to at least one person every other night. Late Stayers. They are the people that like to go to a restaurant and play "catch up" with each other. There is no problem with any patron staying for a while after they are finish eating. There is a difference when its been 2 hours since your last water refill.

Our poor hostess turned waitress Ellie had to expirience her first Late Stayers last night. Since she had worked the morning shift, she was in a section that got to get out about 8pm. It was such a slow night that she was let out at 6:30pm. She left the restaurant just before 11pm. Why you ask? Late stayers.

She had a group of about 3 adults that had a light dinner and several cocktails. The bill was just over $60 and she was expecting them to pay and leave any minute so she could go home and get some rest. But they just kept talking to each other. For the first bit she just sat around, eventually she figured that if she was going to be around, that she would make some money. She had a few other tables and they left. The Late Stayers were still there.

Eventually at 9pm they gave her a credit card, they signed it at 10. They left the restaurant at 10:40pm. They left her $6. 10% for all of her time. For reasons like this, I believe tips should be based on how long you were at the resaurant and not by how much the food cost. *shrugs*


I had 2 Late Stayers last night, the difference was that I was closing and they left right before we closed. I was not inconvenienced aside from not being able to clean their table. Which doesnt really make much of a difference anyway. Eventually, it was so slow and they were the only table. I took a nap in one of the booths in the bar. Then I played a game of "Throw newspapers at the bartender". Gotta do something to keep your sanity.

Moral: Late Stayers! Dont stay so late, esp if your waitress is sitting 3 booths away with her head down because she has nothing to do but wait on you. (lol get it?). As for my advice to the waiters/waitress', you cant avoid it, just try to keep yourself occupied or transfer the check to anyone else.

Knowing when to leave

Everyone knows restaurants have a very high turn-over rate. My restaurant follows this so closely that in the 3 years ive worked there, I have trained two managers and weve had at least 7 transfers.

Maybe I drive them away?

Anyway, we recently had a nice girl start to work with us at peppers. She had some problems with the dress code (pink dyed splotches of hair and plug piercings). Immediately people thought I would get along wither her because we both had/have a thing for piercings. I didnt get along with her well mainly because she was one of those artists that did the hair color and piercings as "self expression". Dont get me wrong, expressing yourself is key, but her way is very cliche, cookie cutter.

Either way, her main purpose of working at Peppers was to pick up some cash and pay bills because her career as an artist hasnt picked up yet. Now, Im also an artist, but I do it as a side thing. I firmly believe that it is near impossible to make a living off of art. Van gogh wasnt appreciated until long after he died. So I kind of foresaw what was going to happen this past week.

First off, she is always late. Punctuality speaks volumes no matter where you work. This past saturday, she called that she was going to run 15 min late for her noon shift. It was 11:15 and her real shift started at 11. My William Hung look-a-like manager gave her a stern talking to over the phone and told her not to bother coming for the morning shift because by the time she got in, the rush would be over. Strike one

When she came in for her night shift (I was working a suicide shift (open-end of dinner straight through)), she complained that she needed to get out at 7:30 at the latest to make it to her art show so she could sell some of her art pieces. Since she hadnt come in for her morning shift and she yelled at a manager over the phone, they had her in a closing section. She begged Van to let her go home first but he was doing almost the same length of time I was. She begged me as well, of course Im a nice guy and Im a sucker for pretty eyes. I also had no real plans being the loser that I am.

So she got her wish and I switched with her. When I got cut to go home, I would work and she would go to her art show. We had to clear it by a manager, who was not happy at all that I was being nice to someone who had no respect for the job. What she was not counting on was the dinner rush. Saturdays are hit or miss for us. Unfortunately, luck was not on her side. We had a party of 40 and a few parties of 10 or more. Since our facility is setup to have a max of two tables of 10 at a time, it was hard to fit it in, let alone cook for all of them.

Behind the manager's back, she went up to the hostess and asked the hostess to stop seating her. Strike two. Especially if we are that busy, we need every table. Needless to say the manager was angry that her section was empty and everyone was running around while she was cleaning up.

There she stood, in the middle of our kitchen line, with her cashout and sheets all filled out with every other person in the restaurant running around her because they were so busy. My manager took a second to look at her and told her that there was no way she was leaving at that moment. After about 10 min of bitching and complaining my manager took her cash out and closed the office door. Strike three. I didnt hear what happened, I havent heard what happened but I havent seen her since. Ok well I at least know she got fired. I hope her art show went well.

Moral: There are certain things in life that you should be passionate about. Temporary jobs are just that, temporary. You sometimes have to make a decision between what you want to do and your job. Do I think she made the wrong choice? I dont know 100% what her situation is but if you cant afford to be out of a job then I would have stayed. I think she lives on her own. So yes, I think it was a bad choice. There would have been other art shows and she should have taken that day off or something. Sucks tho. Im sad she had to pick between her job and love (art). Thats life.

Piercings

This is a situation few waiters come across. Waiting tables is a common occupation because it does not require previous training or any specific kind of education. Therefore, it attracts people with things such as tattoos and piercings. A side note, when I started at peppers, I had no piercings.

Ive had numerous comments about me having piercings and growing up, etc etc. I agree, piercings to me are kind of a phase of which I am growing out of. Because you dont like it, does not mean you shouldnt at least be tolerant. I fresh comment noted that to him it was "disgusting". Some people do think that, thats why there is the dress code of which I violate. In my culture, we eat grasshoppers. I bet a lot of you just went "ew". Not to me, and thats the point. Why is it that disgusting? To me, its normal. You can not tell me that no matter what, its disgusting to have a lip ring. Its a matter of personal preference. I know my bitching wont change a thing. I work in an industry where you must be as conservitive as possible so you dont offend anyone. I know I know.

Try to understand that to me, it isnt fashion. To me, its me being me. I know, you dont understand it. Not even the other people I work with that have piercings understand.

Let me try to explain why I wear them.

Do you know that kid, when you went to high school, that sat in the corner and said nothing? The kid that would bump into someone and fall over and have half of his books fall on the floor and people would stare. That kid you would push around for fun or cheat off of on a math test. That was me. I hated every minute of it.

I got my first piercings when I was 18. My parents were 110% against it. My mom told me that she would kick me out of the house if I got anything pierced. Guess what? I got my tragus' pierced (the nubs just outside the hole of your ear). From that point forward, I got treated differently. At least I precieved it that way. I felt like one of those bad asses. You know when you walk down a sidewalk and someone is coming the other way. you sorta do chicken, whos gonna keep going and whos gonna move to the side and let you go. I wanted to be the guy that just kept walking. The earrings gave me the confidence to do things or talk to people and be a different person from what I was.

I got more piercings and it became an obsession. I became "that pierced up guy". I stopped getting picked on and people wanted to talk to me. Fuck, girls would come up and talk to me. I was a different person. To take the earrings out would be me reverting back to the person I didnt want to be. It was a huge crutch for me that I used to change myself, but it worked.

The side effects of this though is what all of you have been complaining of. No one is tolerant or tries to understand why I am like this. It violates dress codes and closes doors that would be otherwise open because I deviate from what is considered normal. What a society where a person with good credentials and ability can be turned down for a job because he/she has a tattoo or piercings.


I work an office job on top of my waiting job now. It pays triple what I made as a waiter. But, of course, I had to take the piercings out. It was the hardest thing for me to do. I wasnt angry because I had to conform to a dress code, I was afraid I would be back to square 1. I have to get off the crutches that I made for myself and stand tall. That doesnt mean its easy. Yea yea, "Suck it up and be a man" or something along those lines. I am.

Moral: Call me a pussy. Call it disgusting that I had a piece of steel in my lip. Tell me im gay for whatever reason. I dont really mind, Ive run into that quite often already. Just understand, taking out the piercings felt like taking out a part of who I am. I dont feel like I am myself.

A "Fun" place to work

So says the little sign outside of my peppers to get people to come in and apply for a job. I doubt it works.

Who would think its fun to work here? Well recently I realized that I did like to work here. At least I realized this after I stopped having fun. We have a new manager that looks like william hung but taller and skinnier. He has an oddly gay lisp and gets in your face when you do something wrong.

We had a little skirmish when I added gratuity to a table that was under the minimum limit for peppers. They claimed that many were going to show up, 3 less did and I was too lazy to have him take it off. He yelled at me about something like "Its considered theft" blah blah. Which it isnt because gratuity is defined as 15% added in for the customers ease. Ive had a few people leave me under it, are they stealing from me? I know I should have gotten the gratuity off the check but it was more his reaction to me that made me angry.

There are nice ways of putting things, and there are way of putting things that make me want to fix his lisp. Hes also cracked down on my piercings. I have taken 90% of them out for my new job (which im currently at, yay for offices). All I have in is my lip ring and my nipple rings. No one can see my nipples so thats ok. Regardless, this guy has a problem with my lip ring. Fine, ask me to take it out, we have a dumb and conservitive dress code for a reason. He makes one of the other managers that I dont hate as much, come up to me and tell me to take it out.

I dont expect anyone to understand how much my piercings mean to me, but telling me to take out my lip ring (remember this is to me), is like telling an indian woman she cant have the dot on her forehead because its against the dress code. I know not everyone sees it the same way but regardless, I was angry.

I no longer talk to him at all but he always finds some way of dragging my mood down. Me in a bad mood means customers arent always happy. If im not in the right mind set, I just dont care if someones food comes out late. I dont know what im going to do because he works basically every shift. *sigh*

Moral: Keep your tongue and physical anger in check and you will keep your job. But I do find myself questioning if I need this job.